UK girl makes clean sweep on ski instructor course in Canada

UK-based adventure travel company, SnowSkool, has been providing ski and snowboard instructor courses for people from all over the world since 2004 but nothing prepared their seasoned Canadian, Kiwi, British and French instructors for an unassuming young eighteen year old girl from Surrey, UK.

Annie Thallon has just finished the SnowSkool ski instructor course in Banff, Canada and is enjoying a very well-earned rest after picking up five instructor qualifications covering both the skiing and snowboarding disciplines. In the course of the 14-week programme, Annie sat and passed:

- CSIA Level 1 Ski Instructor
- CSIA Level 2 Ski Instructor
- CSCF Level 1 Race Coach
- CSIA Snow Park Certificate
- CASI Level 1 Snowboard Instructor

Annie’s achievements represent a monumental feat according to SnowSkool Marketing Manager, Phil Purdie: "What Annie has achieved is, as far as I know, unprecedented in one season. A successful SnowSkool student would finish a season with Level 1 and Level 2 in one discipline but to walk away with two ski instructor qualifications, a ski racing qualification, a freestyle ski qualification and a snowboard instructor qualification is extremely impressive. And at the age of 18, it is nothing short of miraculous."

Although a relatively accomplished skier (and snowboarder) before joining SnowSkool’s ski instructor course, Annie’s main love was Irish Dancing for which she had developed a love at school and she attributes a lot of her slope-side success to this: "Dancing has always given me a very good level of fitness and the core strength and balance that have come from years of dance training served me very well on the slopes."

Putting her new qualifications to good use, SnowSkool has set Annie up with a new job as a ski instructor at Mount Hotham Ski Resort which is located in the Australian Alps National Park in Victoria, Australia.

The ski season in Australia runs from late June until early October and, from November, Annie will be back on the slopes in Banff plying her trade to some very lucky skiers (and snowboarders).

SnowSkool was established in 2003 and runs ski and snowboard instructor courses of between 4 weeks and 14 weeks at the Canadian resorts of Banff and Big White, in the Three Valleys, France and at Cardona in New Zealand.

Key:
CSIA – Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance
CSCF – Canadian Ski Coaches’ Federation
CASI – Canadian Association of Snowboarder Instructors

Courses include:
Snowboard & Ski Instructor Courses New Zealand. 10 weeks from 08-Jul to 19-Sept 2010
Snowboard & Ski Instructor Courses Banff. 14 weeks from 06-Jan to 11-Apr 2011
Snowboard & Ski Instructor Courses Three Valleys. 11 weeks from 09-Jan to 27-Mar 2011
Snowboard & Ski Instructor Courses Big White. 11 weeks from 10-Jan to 28-Mar 2011

For more information, visit: snowskool.co.uk